Senegal’s President Calls Off a Nationwide Election. His Critics Name It a Coup.

Senegal’s president has canceled the election for his substitute three weeks earlier than voting was set to happen, saying {that a} dispute between the legislative and judicial arms of presidency over accusations of corruption wanted to be resolved first.

Talking on Saturday afternoon from the presidential palace in Dakar, Senegal’s capital, his phrases live-streamed on his social media platforms, President Macky Sall mentioned that the dispute between the West African nation’s nationwide meeting and its constitutional court docket had reached a disaster level, and that he was repealing the decree convening the electoral physique, successfully suspending elections.

However his opponents mentioned he was primarily finishing up a coup d’état, and accused him of treason.

“For the first time in its history, Senegal has just suffered a coup d’état,” Ousmane Diallo, a researcher with Amnesty Worldwide, posted on X.

After the nation’s constitutional council revealed lists of accepted candidates for the election, a few of them have been discovered to have been accepted regardless of holding twin nationality, one thing presidential candidates are usually not allowed in Senegal.

This case, the president mentioned, “could seriously damage the credibility of the election” in a rustic that “cannot afford a new crisis.”

Mr. Sall had spent years refusing to confirm whether or not he would strive for a 3rd time period in workplace. Senegal’s Structure limits presidents to 2 consecutive phrases. However in 2016, when Mr. Sall was 4 years into his first time period, voters modified the Structure to scale back phrases to 5 years from seven, which he argued reset the clock, permitting him to run a 3rd time.

However final July, he said he would not run again, and later named the prime minister, Amadou Ba, because the governing get together candidate for the 2024 election.

He gave no new date for an election in his handle to the nation on Saturday, however mentioned he was nonetheless dedicated to staying out of the race himself.

“My solemn commitment not to run in the presidential election remains unchanged,” he mentioned in his live-streamed handle, earlier than the digital camera lower to pictures of the golden lions outdoors the presidential palace, and the Senegalese flag embossed with the president’s initials fluttering in gradual movement.

One presidential candidate, Thierno Sall, accused the president of treason.

“Macky Sall knows that his candidate, Amadou Ba, cannot win the presidential election,” he mentioned in an announcement. “He is afraid of the consequences of his actions during all his years at the head of our country.”

Senegal has, to date, been spared the military coups which have not too long ago hit different former French colonies that neighbor it within the arid Sahel area simply south of the Sahara. However the president’s critics on Saturday accused him of finishing up a constitutional coup.

Just like the international locations now led by juntas, Senegal has skilled a wave of youth discontent, with widespread demonstrations in opposition to a authorities that many see as repressive, out of contact, in cahoots with its former colonizer, France, and unable to create ample alternatives for younger individuals, who dominate the nation demographically.

Many younger Senegalese mentioned there was an answer to those issues: Ousmane Sonko.

Mr. Sonko, a comparatively younger politician — he’s 49, Macky Sall is 62 — has drawn assist by criticizing France, denouncing Senegalese elites and promising to stimulate the economic system and create jobs.

He has variously been charged with calling for rebel, with defamation of the nation’s tourism minister and with rape. He was acquitted of rape, however convicted of “corrupting youth” for appearing immorally towards the younger therapeutic massage therapist who accused him of raping her.

The fees in opposition to him appeared to solely gasoline Mr. Sonko’s recognition, sending 1000’s into the streets, bashing pots and pans all through the nation in his assist and in defiance of the federal government.

No less than 16 individuals have been killed within the demonstrations, in accordance with Human Rights Watch, and in late July, the federal government dissolved Mr. Sonko’s get together.

At the moment in jail, Mr. Sonko named Bassirou Diomaye Faye as his substitute to guide the motion. However Mr. Faye is in detention, too, on expenses together with incitement to rebel, and it’s unclear whether or not he’ll be capable to contest the management.